Hugo Chavez has done to Venezuela's cities precisely the same thing fidel castro has done to Cuba's. Caracas is rapidly starting to look like Havana. Chavez's comes with the added bonus of dangerous rampant crime all through the atmosphere - although it's also a little known fact that castro's cities are full of crime, too. The only reason there isn't more of it is that there isn't much left to steal. But crime and decay are the hemisphere's highest in these two countries. It's the natural residue of communism, which fosters a culture of envy and entitlement.

In Venezuela, Daniel's got a huge photoessay of the degradation of the Caracas city surroundings that so characterizes the Chavista regime. It's brilliantly done, along with Daniel's pointedly acid narration.

Read and see the whole specter here.